KOBE COLLEGE KOBE 、JAPAN
・Come visit Kobe College 〔写真1〕
KOBE COLLEGE
A STORY OF DEVELOPMENT
First Decade
1873 Misses Talcott and Dudley arrive in Kobe, rent a room and teach English, Bible and singing to a few little boys and girls.
1875 The teachers open the first school for girls in western Japan, Known as the “ Kobe Anglo-Japanese Girl’s School. ”
1877 The first building erected.
1880 A systematic curriculum arranged.
1882 The first class graduated.
Second Decade
1885 Ninety‐seven pupils. The school emblem adopted, the conventionalized trefoil, signifying the all-round development of body, mind and spirit.
1887 The first musical entertainment given by the school.
1888 New chapel and three-story dormitory erected. Enrollment 193; seventy-one of the girls Christians.
1890 The school magazine “ Megumi ”or “ Grace” first published.
1891 Three-year college course planned.
1892 Alumnae Association formed. Music and science building erected.
Third and Fourth Decades
1899 Government recognition of the school given by Department of Education.
1905 Expansion imperative. A large plot of city land north of the campus leased.
1906 Visit from Deputation of W.B.M.I. Administration Building and Chapel erected.
1907 Board of Managers made up of Japanese and Americans, two of whom must be alumnace of the school, organized for more efficient administration.
1908 Curriculum expanded to five years of academy and four years of college grade.
1909 Miss Talcott’s birthday, May 22, set apart as Founder’s Day.
1912 Y.W.C.A. organized among students.
Faculty enlarged by apppointment of a Japanese Dean.
1916 Observance of the 40th Anniversary with historical pageant and many interesting features.
Miss Searle made Principal Emeritus.
Miss Charlotte DeForest made Principal.
269 students.
37 young ladies graduated, five from college; 32 from academy couese.
・INCREASE OF STUDENTS IN 40 TEARS 〔図版〕
A STORY OF STATISTICS
Of the 269 students in 1916, 117 or 44% were professing Christians.
143 or 53 % came from homes where one or more menbers were Christians.
Twelve years earlier only 10% of the students were Christian.
The largest number aided financially in any one year was 29, in 1894, at the time of reaction against foreigners and Christianly. The smallest number aided students per year for thirty years is twenty-one.
The age of students ranges from thirteen in first academy year to over twenty in last college year. Many of the college students have an experience as teachers before completing their college course.
About one fourth of the student body now live in the dormitory. Up to 1898 practically all were boarders. Two facts account for the changed proportion ; the increase of girl’s schools throughout the empire makes it less necessary to send girls away from home to school ; and suburban electric cars enable girls from near Kobe to “commute”instead of entering the dormitory.
The graduates of all departments of the school number over 500. More than one-fourth of the whole number have been teachers and somewahat less than one-fifth have been engaged in direct evangelistic work.
・MISS CHARLOTTE DE FOREST 〔写真2〕
A STORY OF CONFIDENCE
・Kobe College Girls out for a Walk 〔写真3〕
A STORY OF OPPORTUNITY
・Kobe College Girls with their Thanksgiving Offerings 〔写真4〕
・A Demonstration in Japanese Cooking. (Scene from 40th Anniversary Pageant.) 〔写真5〕
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
HOW WE CAN RAISE THE MONEY
A word from Rev. Sidney L. Gulick, D. D. , nearly thirty yeara in Japan.
“ Japanese education is and has been wholly agnostic. It destroys belief in the old superstitions and polytheistic idolatries, but it provides no basis for a moral lief.
“ For many reasons I wish to urge on those in America who are responsible for the maintenance of the mission schools in Japan to see to it that they are thoroughly housed, equipped and manned.
“ Kobe College is one of the very important institutions of Japan. Its splendid site; its more splendid history spanning forty years; its loyal alumnae and its efficient body of devoted workers, promise even larger results for the future than it has secured in the past.
“ It has, moreover, reached a point in its history where more buildings and larger equipment are a necessity, not only to enable it to meet the needs of its enlarging curriculum, but also as an evidence to the public that it is a progressive, up-to-date college. It needs the aid which only money can give to retain its present prestige and to conserve the lives and money already invested. Without financial aid soon there will be loss ”
WOMAN’S BOARD OF MISSION OF THE INTERIOR
( Congregational )
19 South La Salle Street, Room 1315
CHICAGO
1917